ILO Staff

Work Permit of Foreign Nationals

Foreign nationals shall be employed to work in Iran if they have work permit in accordance with the Labor Law of Iran and in conformity with Social Security Organization “SSO” regulations.

The validity and duration of the work permit would be for a maximum of one year and would depend on the duration mentioned in the application of the employer submitted to the Ministry of Cooperatives, Labor and Social Welfare (“MCLSW”). The whole process for obtaining work permit will take approximately 4-5 weeks by submission of the documented documents, however, this timeframe is only an estimation given by the MCLSW which might vary in practice on a case by case basis.

The documents which should be submitted to the” MCLSW” for a work permit are as follows:

Employer’s written request duly signed and sealed;

Filling out 3 copies of foreign national personal information form;

Filling out 2 foreign national career information form;

Four 4×3 size photos and original passport of the foreign national with copy of its pages;

Documents regarding the education of the foreign national e.g. university degree to be certified by the Iranian Consulate in the foreign national relevant country;

Submission of the relevant fee.

Technical Board for the Employment of Foreign National (“Technical Board”) of “MCLSW” shall decide on whether the relevant permit should be issued based on the following criteria:

According to the information available to MCLSW, there are no qualified Iranian nationals with similar specialization who are ready to perform the work in question;

The foreign national possesses sufficient skills and specialization for the job in question;

The expertise of the foreign national is used to train Iranians with a view to the eventual substitution of the foreign national by a trained Iranian.

“Technical Board of MCLSW” holds meetings for reviewing the applications and issuing work permit every other week upon having all the above mentioned documents.